Economic Commentary
Markets continue to push for more from the Federal Reserve
ECONOMY & POLICY February 02, 2024 Chief Economist Eugenio J. Alemán discusses current economic conditions. Markets have made themselves clear for a while: they want more rate cuts than what Federal Reserve (Fed) members seem to be willing to accept at this time. Many economic forecasters have moved decisively towards either a soft landing […]
Fed opens 2024 FOMC meeting slate by holding rates steady
MARKETS & INVESTING February 01, 2024 For the fourth consecutive meeting, the central bank elected to not raise the federal funds rate. The Federal Reserve (Fed) elected to not raise the federal funds rate at the January 2024 Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting. It is the fourth consecutive meeting during which the central […]
Employment growth: Which sectors are doing the heavy lifting?
ECONOMY & POLICY January 26, 2024 Chief Economist Eugenio J. Alemán discusses current economic conditions. In the middle of 2023 we argued that, according to our forecast for GDP at the time for the whole of 2023, employment was growing too fast and that it would have to slow considerably during the second half […]
Effects of higher interest rates on housing and consumers
ECONOMY & POLICY January 19, 2024 Chief Economist Eugenio J. Alemán discusses current economic conditions. In our Weekly Economics Thoughts of the Week for last week, we showed that the housing market, i.e., real residential investment, had been one of the most impacted sectors by the increase in interest rates over the last several years with […]